The former Arsenal defender William Gallas is expected to complete a surprise move to their north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur after talks progressed on a deal for the French defender tonight. Gallas will have a medical at White Hart Lane tomorrow morning following negotiations between Gallas's agent, Étienne Mendy, and club officials this evening.


Gallas is believed to have agreed a £90,000-a-week deal, a sum that reportedly prevented Gallas joining Milan in the summer after his Emirates contract expired.

But Harry Redknapp, the Spurs manager, said last week that, after contact with his representatives, the 33-year-old's wage demands were not an issue.

"His wages aren't a problem," Redknapp said. "He has not been greedy at all. His people have rung up and we spoke about it."

Redknapp is keen to strengthen his defence as Ledley King's chronic knee problem and Jonathan Woodgate's long-term groin injury have left the manager with only Sébastien Bassong and Michael Dawson as his senior central defenders.

The Spurs manager also played down the possibility that signing Gallas would be unpopular with the club's fans because of his Arsenal associations. "You can go on for ever about that," he said. "He played for Chelsea as well. We put too much importance on that all the time. If he comes in and plays rubbish then the crowd will slaughter him. If he comes in and plays great they will love him. It's not like we would be signing Tony Adams. He's a good player and he would be a very useful addition to our squad."

Movement between the two north London clubs has nonetheless been rare in recent years, and Gallas would be only the sixth player to move from Arsenal to Tottenham . The most high-profile recent move in the opposite direction, Sol Campbell's defection from White Hart Lane to Highbury on a free transfer in 2001, fuelled further acrimony between the clubs.

It looks like Arsene Wenger is going to take the opportunity of a (hopefully!) easy game against Blackpool, to give his returning World Cup Finalists an extra rest while they try and catch up with the fitness of the rest of the Arsenal squad.

Both Fabregas and Van Persie only rejoined the squad two weeks ago, and then had to fly off again to play in the usual pre-season “meaningless international friendly” which always cheers up Premiership managers so much.

Van Persie was given a 15 minute run-out against Liverpool, but Fabregas is likely to need longer to recuperate from all the emotional stress from the summer, and Wenger admitted that both players would still need more time to be fully prepared for the strenuous season ahead.

“To have a good season you need a good preparation so we want to especially build up Cesc and Van Persie well,” said Wenger.

“They came back on August 5 and you need three to four weeks preparation if you want to do well in the Premier League.”

Alex Song, Denilson and Johan Djourou have also missed some work through injury, and Wenger may also leave these three on the bench as well.

“All are available – at different levels of fitness,” Wenger said.

“I need to make up my mind who I integrate in the squad, but there is no major problem for anybody really.

“Denilson has not played since April 14 and did not play one minute of a game in pre-season. He still needs to work.

“All the others are quite available – at least to be on the bench, but at the same time we do not want to rush it.”

I suppose it’s not much different to later in the season, when Wenger would normally rest some of his top stars for “easy” games, knowing that more crucial ones were approaching……

It really is a joke the way Arsenal do there business in the transfer market. why do we always do this?

We always try and get players on the cheap, Savilla said that Arsenal’s offer for Squillaci was insufficient. And now Arsenal have angered Fulham with a second £2million bid for Mark Schwarzer – the SAME as one rejected in May. Now talks have stalled after furious Fulham threw out the cheeky bid.

AW have said there is considerable money to spend, So why are we hunting around in pound shops hunting for bargains?… if they are the players we want then just pay the going rate. Squilaci and Schwarzer are hardly world class players and for the pair of them it would cost us no more then £10m, again shows a small club mentality.

£10m to get the players we need and Arsenal are refusing to do so and are willing to wait till the last min just to save a few pennies. But its a dangerous game Arsenal are playing. They did this with Alonso a few years ago and missed out.

We made £34m in transfer fees last season and still money in the bank from this years dealings plus Christ knows how much saved in losing 8 wages off the books.

What I don’t get is this… With the sales of Traore, Simpson, Fran and Eduardo..plus saving on wages from Gallas, Silvestre, Campbell & Senderos. With only 2 players coming in and 1 of them was a FREE how can we still be penny pinching?

Be prudent with the money, but £10m in getting 2 needed players ain’t going to send us into Leeds and Pompey is it?… Its just Arsenal being tight f**king wads.

Nobody can balance the books like Arsene, and that my friends is the ONLY reason why he has just got a new deal at Arsenal.

Do we need keeper? YES. Do we need a CH? YES. Do we need a DM as back up for Song? YES!

With only 11 days till the window shuts, Wenger and his puppet board are playing games in the transfer market, JUST PAY THE GOING RATE!

I doubt they will buy anyone and Wenger will come out with the usual “garbage “of we tried but no one was selling”

Every f**king years the same. Injuries followed by Wenger saying “They will be like a new signing” when they return.

And then we get the great news on Arsenal.com to try and paper over the cracks by trying to get us all excited about the f**king clock. or the great news that we have just signed some 14 yr old from Timbuktu.

IM SICK OF THIS!….Where’s the ambition to win things anymore? Arsenal are a big club with a small club mentality.